European Athleticism on Display

Those following the recent influx of international basketball talent into the NBA recognize that no longer do Europeans labor under preconceived notions of athletic inferiority to their American counterparts.

These days, the French are just as likely to fry an assuming defender with a posterizing dunk as a Queens-born rim-basher.

6-8 Nicholas Batum is one such Frenchman. His games smacks of Rudy Gay's, with the tendency to float on the perimeter instead of slash to the rim. I saw his European team, Le Mans, play last year in Istanbul and remember being impressed with the 18-year old's cool manner. It kinda reminded me of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, in averaging 12.3 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists he often underwhelmed with his apparent lack of fire.

Now he's in Portland, having been drafted at 25 in the 1st round. And, after a summer of seasoning, he's impressing.

The Blazers blogger Mike Barrett wrote:

He was always described to me as someone who could, in time, be a lock-down wing defender. He's got the wing span of a player 7'4", and those long arms caused everyone trouble in those early games. His silky-smooth jumper started falling with regularity, and he started showing the ability to finish, both in traffic, and from the perimeter.

In a recent game, he dropped 16 points, on 7 for 11 shooting (including 2-2 from three), and blocked 3 shots.

How soon until he starts treating NBAers like he did his contemporaries in the 2007 Nike Hoop Summit in Memphis?




In similar news, check out this sickly quick Englishman play ring-around-the-rosies with NBAer Devin Harris (in London for a preseason game)



Evidentally, the dribbling dervish, Stuart Tanner, isn't really that anonymous, at least in his neck of the concrete woods.

It's interesting to note that many of 2000+ posts on J.E. Skeets' blog are filled with people who acknowledge Harris' appropriately unharried nature and even laud Devin for being good lad about being royally burned by one helluva British street baller.

No Joshing Around

Prior to his transoceanic relocation, it seems Olympiacos' Josh Childress was already quite the worldly fellow. From a recent NY Times interview, I've learned that he and Jamal Sampson, who played at the University of Califonia at Berkeley, travel internationally every summer, to places like Brazil and Spain. One imagines he learned a thing or two about the quality of European basketball while in Spain.

Even the ardent Spanish fans, though, cannot compare to some of the Greek fans Josh is now experiencing. On Greece club basketball's strongest rivalry, Panathanaikos v. Olympiacos:

It’s to the point where if we have a home game, their fans can’t come. The same thing goes for our fans if we play there. I don’t know how long ago it was, but they were shooting flares to the other side and throwing firecrackers. After the games, they would organize places to meet and they would go brawl.

Childress isn't joshing around, either. Here's flare-filled proof from a 2006 championship game:



His experience, unbelievably, makes my Turkish one seem lame by comparison.

As I've pointed out before, Childress was drawn to European basketball because of its emphasis on a more team-oriented game. He's not expected to be the biggest block of cheese in the cupboard:

I’m not expected to come in and drop 30. They don’t want that. Me coming in and taking 20 shots a game is something that they really don’t want. It’s good, because it’s something that I don’t want to do. I’ve never been a volume shooter, I’d rather take the good shot than shoot to shoot.

He emphasized it's hard to score, period, because not only are FIBA games shorter (40 minutes compared to the NBA's 48) but:

It’s tougher to score here. There’s no defensive three seconds. They play zone. There’s all kinds of ways that make it tougher to score; the game is a lot more physical. It’s more of a team game. It’s a little more evenly spread. Like you [NY Times reporter] said, 15 points in 27 minutes is a good number.

Bensonic Flavor

Meet Rod Benson.
He's a 6-10, expatriating, board-grabbing, keyboard-tapping machine.
Benson, who plays for SLUC Nancy (in France's best league), is not your run-of-the-mill athlete blogger, serving up bland P.R. drivel with the wit of a soggy armband.
No. What Benson serves up is invariably fresh, tasty and off the still sizzling skillet of his mind.

Here's a taste:

Benson, who plays with Tony Parker's younger brother, partly through that connection recently met up with the French National Team at a discotheque. The night was memorable - not memorable in a 'Ah, that was sweet' kind of way but more like a 'Ah, at least that'll be able to generate some laughs if I blog about it' sort of way.
An excerpt from his first nightlife experience in France ...

Right off the bat I realized that arriving at 11 p.m. meant that I was arriving way too early. All the French guys arrived at like 1 a.m.. I later realized that the fact that I can't speak French, coupled with loud music and noise, means that there is almost zero reason for me to open my mouth at a club. I did a lot of talking to myself, dancing with myself, and kickin' it — with myself. It was kinda awkward being the only person who knew, and danced, the entire Soulja Boy "Crank That" song.

The D.J. started playing some Snoop Dogg and Tupac and soon enough I was the only person C-Walking, too. I kind of felt like I was a mime. I said no words, I made no eye contact, I just moved around by myself while many people drank and watched.

Going back to his Tony Parker's brother, it looks like young TJ Parker and Rod Benson have no problem making fun of TJ Parker. You see, Tony "Deep-pockets" Parker, evidentally not feeling the latest economic crisis in the least, has bet his broseph $22,000 that he can't grow his hair out for 6 straight months. Au contraire, brother said, and the race is on.

Hilarity, in the form of this apt comparison b/t Parker and Carlos from Desperate Housewives, has ensued:

Here's where Benson now plays - Nancy in Lorraine Province (where Joan of Arc was born):


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Jennings Flourishing Thus Far

Lottomatica Roma's Brandon Jennings, the preps-to-peninsular pro in progression, has had a fine first month of preseason play in Italy.

Dario Marra tells us that he's averaged almost 20 points in his first 5 preseason games and

has shown, in this first part, why he’s considered as a potential first 5 picks in the next draft. Still very skinny, BJ is very quick and can handle the ball with both hands, has a great capacity to find a way to the basket, being very aggressive in dribbling to the basket and in shooting from long distance... . Obviously, Jennings could find some hard moments with teams more physical and, in general, with the slower European game, but there is no doubt that the roman audience – and all the Euroleague fans - may have some fun (he’s spectacular in open floor) in the next season.

If you daren't believe Dario, then check out this video of a scrimmage in which he scored 16 points and dished out 7 assists in his first scrimmage against a team from Serbia.

The NY Times' Pete Thamel did a recent story on Jennings in which some interesting facts came to light:

1. Jennings makes $1.2 million a year in salary and endorsements, and the team provides a luxury three-bedroom apartment, a Volvo station wagon and eight round-trip tickets between Rome and the United States.

2. His mother and younger brother are living with him in Rome, providing him a support network. His mom drives him around, since he lacks a license. Jennings pays his brother's $20,000 international school tuition. “Right now, we have no worries,” Jennings said. “As long as those two are good, I’m happy.”

3. During the night's Jennings stays home, on his computer. This could be seen in a negative light - he's not experiencing the culture of a world-class city or a positive one - he's "staying out of trouble" and keeping in contact with him friends and family back home. It is after all his job to improve his basketball game and a boring social life is one of the best ways to free up time to do that.

4. One positive "cultural" influence the move has had on his lifestyle so far is a change in diet.

The dinners at Del Taco and In N Out Burger, two fast-food restaurants in abundance near the family’s Los Angeles home, have been replaced by salmon, chicken and vegetables bought fresh daily at a local market.

5. Jennings is at least saying the right things on the expanding-your-mind-when-you-travel front, even if he stays mostly in his apartment and gym. He said he'd ask anybody making the same leap: "What do you want to get out of it? If they’re coming over here for the money, don’t do it. If they want to learn and get better, they should think about it. If you have a bad attitude, it’s not going to be good.”

It'll be interesting to see if that attitude holds up as the season wears on.

Not Just the Green

In my previous article about NBA-to-Europe posterboy Josh Childress, I mentioned that his primary reason for playing in Europe is the vertitable Aegean sea of Euros he'll swim in for making the jump.

Still, saying that was his sole reason is cynical and short-sighted.

Instead, as this interview with Frank Lawlor of euroleague.net shows, he's thinking of more than buckets of purple, yellow, green, orange, blue, a kind of mauveish rouge, and grey.

To wit:

As a player who proved himself at all levels in your own country, what attracted you to the European game in the prime of your career?

"I think just seeing the style of play here in terms of getting back to a team game was something that really attracted me. I had been four years in the NBA and it's a different game. This is little more team-focused, team-oriented, which is something I felt like it would be good to get back to."

Some people have called Euroleague game a perfect hybrid between the NCAA and the NBA: the very passionate crowds and team basketball of the former, with a skill level that is always getting closer to the latter. Do you see that comparison as accurate?

"I think it's a very accurate comparison. It's the same exact thing that I would say, both ways. And I think that year after year that skill level is getting higher. European basketball is getting better and more skillful at the same time."

Do you consider yourself a trailblazer?

"People have called me that, and I do agree to an extent. I guess I am just the first guy in my position who wanted to try Europe at this stage of his career. And I'm going to give it my best shot. Whether a trailblazer or not, I felt comfortable that this was a good fit for me. I am sure it will be an eye-opener for other guys who will see me and maybe give Europe a shot, too."

Wristy Business

My main man, Ricky Rubio, will miss the Euroleague preseason with surgery for a wrist injury. Although he's supposed to only miss the preseason, but you never know. I hope he's able to rebound soon and hit the Euroleague regular season pavement running.

From Euroleague.net:
DKV Joventut teenage superstar Ricky Rubio will undergo surgery on his right wrist, the club announced Monday. Rubio has been sidelined for the entire preseason due to this hand injury and will undergo a wrist arthroscopy as soon as tomorrow to investigate if ligaments are damaged. The arthroscopy will also allow DKV Joventut to estimate how long Rubio will be sidelined. Rubio helped Joventut to win the Spanish King's Cup and the ULEB Cup titles with Joventut last season, as well as reaching the 2008 Olympic final with Spain this summer.

Continental Creme de la Dunk Kings

As mentioned in an earlier post, Victor Claver is one of the up and coming small forwards in Spain. How up this Iberian pogo-stick can actually get is now fully viewable in this footage of an ACB dunk contest.


And who's the African guy throwing dunks with vicious regularity?
That's 19-year old Serge Ibaka, a 2008 draft pick who could become the sickest slammer to ever play in a European leage.